Steve is a trickster, hiding behind a mask and wearing a court jester suit all the time. Constantly pulling pranks for fun, the people in the town he resides in find his tricks to be funny. Givoni, the town's mayor, does not approve of these pranks and has formed a with Steve. Steve, determined to prove to Givoni that his pranks are all fun and games, not meant to anger anyone or cause any pain. That is, until Steve let's the frusteration get to his head....

Submitted:Mar 23, 2009
Reads: 189
Comments: 17
Likes: 8

Snow gracefully fell to the ground like a
bird falling from its nest. The silent town sat quietly in the
falling snow, creating a disturbing silence of premonition. The
wind, although not strong, could be heard traveling through the
streets.

On top of a rooftop, Steve sat hunched over,
waiting patiently with a black cloak tied around him. His choice
of wearing a black and grey court jester suit did not seem the
slightest bit normal in the town. His face was concealed by a
white mask which had an obscure face drawn on it. As poorly as it
was made, it served him well for so long.

A door opened behind him. He didn't bother
to look away, too busy watching the streets.

"Steve, you up here?" a voice called out,
"Are you busy?"

That was Marco, the baker and landlord of
the apartment Steve lived in. It was also the apartment Steve was
currently perched up on.

"No come on up," Steve called.

Marco stepped up onto the roof from the
hatch in the ground. As he opened the hatch and climbed up, the
smell of sweets being cooked on the bottom floor filled the air;
Steve tried his best to not become caught in a trance and lose
his sense of thought. But he quickly came to his senses. Marco
set down a metal in front of Steve, who turned his attention
towards his friend for a moment.

Marco was a short man, roughly five foot. He
wore glasses, small and round, that always, literally, were
falling off his face. His hair was short and grey, as was his
small puffy moustache. He also wore an apron that was covered
with tan dough splatters and red sauce stains.

Steve looked down at the tray. Pizza bagels,
his favorite! He quickly snatched one and slid it under his mask,
quickly devouring it like a hyena on a carcass. If Marco were to
reach out for one, Steve would growl like a savage beast and
snatch the tray away. He continued to shove pizza bagels under
his mask, eating away.

Marco let out a sigh. "It's always easier to
eat if you take your mask off first," he told Steve, for what
seemed like the hundredth time.

"I've told you before, Marco," Steve said
downing a pizza bagel, "I never take this mask off, even
I'm in the shower or at gunpoint."

Marco sighed once again. His eye then caught
something next to Steve. "Is that a water balloon?"
Steve looked next to his leg. Resting next to his thigh was the
water balloon he had made. "It's red like a water balloon, it's
rubbery like a water balloon," Steve said holding it up, "So it
must be a water balloon. What else could it be?"

"Who are you going to use it
on?"

"I'm sure you know…"

That'll only make his grudge against you
worse."

"He'll have a good laugh!"

"Soaking him with a water balloon will only
get him angry, y'know? It'll only freeze him in this freezing
weather!"

"Whoever said I was going to drench
him?"

"Huh?" Marco asked, raising an
eyebrow.

"Are you actually thinking that I would
resort to this juvenile prank?" Steve asked, holding up the
balloon, "This is only part of the prank, a tool in the grand
scheme, and the bullet in a sniper's rifle. My prank is not
complete without this ammunition," With that, he ate another
pizza bagel, letting out a satisfying chuckle.

Marco smirked. "The heights you'll go to for
a prank, Steve, are just incredible," He complimented, patting
Steve on the shoulder, "Come on down once you're
done."

Just as Marco turned around, the hatch to
the apartments burst open. Out ran Jamie, wearing a green dress,
high heels, and a pearl necklace. At first glance, it would
appear that Jamie was a woman. Truth was that nobody knew
anything about Jamie except that Jamie was once an actor. His
sex, hair color, eye color, and other traits were all unknown to
anyone. On his face now was white face powder and blood red
lipstick.

Steve quickly grabbed the water balloon and
crouched down on the roof. He put his eyes above the roof's edge
to see a moving shape down the street.

"There he is…" Steve sneered, "Marco, Jamie,
get ready to witness the prank that will have your mayor
bested!"

"What? Did I become part of your little
plan?" Jamie squawked in an angry, mislead tone.

"Yup," Steve said not caring about Jamie's
feelings and only waiting for the figure to become visible, "And
you did a good job, so now have yourself a pizza bagel." He was
so focused on the character on the street that he would even
himself into slavery for everyone to shut up.

Evan in the falling snow, Steve could
clearly see Givoni walking down the street, bundled up in his
coat and hot chocolate in his hands. Steve was in luck to see his
adversary on his side of the street.

Steve lightly gripped the water balloon,
ready to launch it downward to the sidewalk. As Givoni neared the
sidewalk, in front of his current location, Steve spiked the
water balloon to the ground. Everything was going perfectly right
now, and Steve let out a slight, satisfying chuckle under his
white mask.

That was, until Givoni caught the
balloon.

Steve's eyes almost burst through his mask.
"WHAT?" he roared, his voice echoing through the
town.

Givoni looked up, his face clearly visible.
His piercing blue eyes met Steve's with strong tension built in
mid air. His nose was long and hooked resembling a hawk. His
jet-black hair was combed back in a formal fashion.

Steve never understood why he called him
"Stephen". It didn't make him sound any more mature or
impressive. In fact, it did the exact opposite. Steve was just
speechless and frustrated with his failure of a
prank.

Givoni crushed the water balloon with his
hand. As the water sunk through the snow and into the sidewalk, a
cardboard cut out of a clown popped up. In the clown's hands was
a sign that read "SUCKA!" in big, bolded letters.

Steve held his face down, his mask hitting
the concrete edge of the roof. Givoni still stood on the sidewalk
bellow, watching his foe. Steve remained silent, not knowing what
he would do now. His ideas were running thin.

"Why do you even bother, Stephen?" Givoni
called, "Your so-called 'pranks' are juvenile and I am not
humored by them. Most of the town may be, but I out rule
them."

Steve picked his head up. "It's what I love
to do!" He yelled out, his anger breaking out of his body, "And
if you had the slightest sense of humor, you'd realize that
they're just for laughs!"

"I only laugh at you!"

"And I laugh when you can't even chuckle at
what I do!"

"You're a juvenile man, Stephen,
you-"

Steve stopped him. "Why do you even bother
calling me that? You're the only person who calls me that! My
name is 'Steve'! That's S-T-E-V-E. I was born with that name, and
that's all I've been called!"

Givoni let out a long, deep sigh. "You're
just lost, aren't you? You're chained to this town and have
nothing out there in the world. If I had you exiled, you would
die. And I can't go on knowing that I killed someone." He turned
around and started walking down the sidewalk again, around the
cardboard cut out, taking a sip out of his hot coco that was
still in his hands, then called "But I suggest you mature and
give yourself a better image, Stephen. If I am forced to banish
you, and you do happen to end up somewhere else, then you had
better know how to act properly or else you'll die in the world."
With that, he left and disappeared into the snow.

"I can't believe how ignorant and stuck up
he is!" Steve roared, slamming his fist down on Marco's kitchen
table. The cups of coffee shook and almost tipped over. Marco sat
across from Steve. Jamie sat in between the two, dressed like a
sailor from the 50s with a blue and white striped shirt with a
red bandana around the neck. On top was a white hat, gently
resting like a sleeping animal. One eye was covered with an
eye-patch. The three sat in the empty bakery on the ground floor
that was filled with wooden tables and chairs. Two large glass
windows were impossible to see out of because of the amount of
snow outside.

Steve held his mask in his hands,
aggravated, irritated and gathering his thoughts. They were
scattered in his head, unable to be caught and domesticated like
wild animals.

Marco could easily see how troubled Steve
was. "Steve, relax for a moment," He said across the table, "If
you relax for a moment, then you can get your thoughts
together!"

"I can't!" Steve cried, "He's pushing me to
the edge! I'm better off just killing him so he can just go away!
Why can't he just understand that pranks are what I do
best?"

Steve and Marco stared in confusion in a
blatantly awkward silence. "Jamie," Steve said after the long
pause, "What is God's name did you just say?"

"Arrr!" Jamie cried, "Ye be no
seadog!"

"I think I hear the men in white coming,
Jamie," Steve said, leaning back in his chair.

There was a knock at the door.

Jamie quickly jumped up from the chair,
running for the stairs to the apartments upstairs. "Those
tea-sipping, scurvy-infested lubbers shall never take me away!
Never, I say!" Following this little scene, he ran up the
stairs.

"What do you think he's going to do up there
now?" Steve asked.

"Hide in the 'head', as he would call it,"
Marco responded. They both chuckled.

There was another knock at the
door.

Marco stood up and answered it. Two police
officers stood there, bundled up in the snow. One was a man,
whose head was covered by a hood, and a woman, who was around the
height of Steve's shoulder and had red hair sticking out of the
sides of her hood. Steve knew these two: Rick and Kia, whom he
was good friends with. In Rick's arms was the cardboard clown
cutout that Steve had left on the sidewalk.

"Is there a problem, officers?" Marco
asked.

Kia spoke up first: "We found this on the
sidewalk," she said, tapping, the cardboard cut out, "You happen
to know who owns it?" She let out a soft chuckle.

Steve raised his hand in the back of the
bakery. "Right here," He called out.

"Obviously…" Rick said, knowing it was
Steve's, "Up to fooling around with Givoni again?"

"Yup," Steve called back.

"Another failure, I'm
guessing?"

"Yup…" Steve leaned back in his chair,
letting out a soft groan.

Marco welcomed the two officers in. "Please,
come in, I'll get you two a drink."

Rick and Kia sat down with Steve at the
table. Rick handed Steve the clown. "What exactly were you doing
with that?" He asked Steve.

"I was actually trying to make Givoni jump
while walking down the street," Steve said, "I rigged the
sidewalk to pop this bad boy up when water made contact with the
concrete. I guess it was a bad idea to do that
here…"

Kia and Rick chuckled. "I still like the
prank you pulled on the commissioner back on 4th of July when you
switched the hotdog with a plastic one!" Rick said, reminding
Steve of the hilarious prank.

"But I'm not causing anyone, other than
Givoni, to be angry, am I?" Steve asked.

"No, but there is a time where you have to
take a break and relax for once. You can't do something your
entire life, because you'll get sick of it. And since this is
done to people, they'll get tired of it soon. We may not be tired
of your pranks right now, but we may one day."

Steve remained silent.

Marco came out with two cups of coffee for
the officers, who took a sip out of them instantly.

"Have you ever tried fear, though?" Rick
asked Steve.

Steve attempted to recollect any pranks that
he scared someone with. "I don't think that's my kind of prank to
pull," He admitted.

"Well, give it a shot," Rick said with an
eager tone in his voice, "I hear Givoni has arachnophobia. If you
can do something involving spiders, then it's all
good!"

Steve thought for a second. "That would be a
good prank… While I may not get him to realize that pranks are
fun, I will be able to prank him!"

"I think you should just try and not scare him," Kia suggested,
"He'll just hate you more."

Kia stood up, coffee still in hand. "Well
good luck, then," she said tugging on Rick, "We should get going
now."

Rick stood up and headed out the door with
Kia, still drinking his coffee.

"Are you going to listen to Rick or Kia?"
Marco asked once the officers left.

Steve remained silent.

"I'm not taking a side," Marco confirmed,
"But I do know someone who can help you with the
spiders."

That seemed to catch Steve's
attention.

"Hyde upstairs was working on some robotic
stuff, like he usually does. You should talk to him to see if he
can make you or lend you anything that can help you." Following
that, Marco departed into the back of the bakery, leaving Steve
to decide which path to take.

He was at a crossroad right now. One road
led him to a prank that could end in an unfavorable way. Steve
didn't really care about the outcome though. At least Givoni
would have had a prank pulled on him. The other road was much
longer and tedious. Steve would have to continue to try and prove
to Givoni that he meant no harm. But in that time, their grudge
would possibly grow strong and it would be even harder to
convince Givoni.

Steve stood up from the chair. He let out a
loud, annoyed groan and started up the stairs. He got onto the
second floor with the doors, his room amongst them to his right.
He could just head there and relax. Down the hallway to his left
was Hyde's room. There was the sound of welding and sparks coming
from behind his door.